Dear Parents/Carers

This week, Mary Immaculate will once again join Catholic schools across NSW and the ACT to celebrate Catholic Schools Week (CSW) from 1 - 7 March.   Approximately 22 million students attend Catholic Schools around the world.

250,00 students in Australia attend Catholic schools, which equates to around 20% of all Australian school students.

The provision of Catholic education equates to one of the largest works of the Catholic Church throughout the world.

It is staggering to consider that despite these statistics approximately 58 million children between the ages of 6-18 from around the world, still do not have access to any form of schooling.  16% of the world is in fact, illiterate. This is a sobering thought and places into perspective the great gift of education that is afforded to each of our students.

Our School belongs to the Diocese of Wollongong.  According to latest census figures our Diocese is one of the fastest growing in New South Wales. It currently administers 30 primary schools, 9 systemic secondary schools, 6 Congregational schools and 1 special education setting. On Thursday night many members of our staff will join with colleagues from all these schools across our Diocese at our Annual Education Mass at St John Vianney, Fairy Meadow to commemorate with Bishop Brian Mascord. This is a very public expression of our individual and collective commitment to work together to realise the opportunities for growth that our Catholic Schools can provide for the students in our care.

Catholic Schools Week is about strengthening relationships between all those who have a stake in our schools – students, staff, families, priests, parishioners, and members of the wider community – by showcasing what happens in our classrooms every day.

Our own School celebration at Mary Immaculate will take place on Friday when all parents are invited to visit classrooms where the students will be extremely proud to share their learning and special pieces of work completed so far this year. This will be an ideal opportunity to support the building of community at Mary Immaculate and learn even more about the great things that are taking place in our own Catholic School.

Our School has a supportive community of Teachers, Parents, Carers, P & F, Clergy, Parishioners and Support Staff who work together to focus on giving students the best education possible, encouraging success, promoting discipline, supporting creativity and instilling compassion.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support of Mary Immaculate and I look forward to seeing many of you at our Catholic Schools Week 2020 celebration on Friday.

Let Christ be our Way and Life

Tina Murray

Principal

SCHOOL TOILETS

Due to Child Protection requirements parents are requested not to access student toilets at any time. If toilets are required please seek assistance at the Office.

Congratulations to the following children who have been awarded Morning Tea with the Principal:

Brooklyn T K Green, Brody C 1 Green, Caitlin R 5 Green , Sophia T 3 Blue, Emily F 4 Blue and Christian Mc 5 Green

Happy Birthday to the following children who will be celebrating their birthday this week:

Daniela A 1 Gold, Savannah V K Green, Chad Locke 6 Green, Daniel M 3 Green, Abigail S 5 Green and Sasha O 5 Green.

Dear students, families and school communities,

Thank you for your school's participation in Catholic Schools Week from 1-7 March. It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and showcase many of the fantastic things happening in your school every day, and in all our Catholic schools across the Diocese of Wollongong.

We thank you for working together in partnership with us to help make your school community such a vibrant, nurturing place of learning, faith, belonging and hope.

If you or a family member or friend would like to enrol your child in one of our schools, please download an enrolment package here.

Have a look at our Catholic Schools Week video below, celebrating what our students across the Diocese love about their Catholic school. Can you spot the students from your school?

Top Ten Homework Tips

Helping with homework shouldn't mean spending hours hunched over a desk. Parents can be supportive by demonstrating study and organisation skills, explaining a tricky problem, or just encouraging kids to take a break. And who knows? Parents might even learn a thing or two!

Here are some tips to guide the way:

1. Talk to teachers - Attend school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, to meet your child's teachers. Ask about homework and how you should be involved.
2. Set up a homework-friendly area - Make sure kids have a well-lit place to complete homework. Keep supplies — paper, pencils, glue, scissors — within reach.
3. Schedule a regular study time - Some kids work best in the afternoon, following a snack and play period; others may prefer to wait until after dinner.
4. Help them make a plan - On heavy homework nights or when there's an assignment to tackle, encourage your child to break up the work into manageable chunks. Create a work schedule for the night if necessary — and take time for a 15-minute break every hour, if possible.
5. Keep distractions to a minimum - This means no TV, loud music, or phone calls.
6. Make sure kids do their own work - They won't learn if they don't think for themselves and make their own mistakes. Parents can make suggestions and help with directions. But it's a kid's job to do the learning.
7. Be a motivator and monitor - Ask about assignments, quizzes, and tests. Give encouragement, check completed homework, and make yourself available for questions and concerns.
8. Set a good example - Do your kids ever see you diligently balancing your budget or reading a book? Kids are more likely to follow their parents' examples than their advice.
9. Praise their work and efforts - Post an aced test or art project on the refrigerator. Mention academic achievements to relatives.

If there are continuing problems with homework, get help. Talk about it with your child's teacher.

Mrs Lillian Del Giudice
Assistant Principal

WHATS ON?

• Thursday 12 March at 9:45 am - Year 1 Liturgy.                          

Week 7 Sabbath Week

First Week of Lent - Year A

We have just launched our kindness through lent! Our Mini Vinnies Team delivered the boxes and discussed how we can support families overseas by donations with Project Compassion. Students explained that during Lent, it is especially important to think about others. 

The other ways we prepare for Easter are to practise giving up something that we like and doing something for another person. In this way we are growing to be more like Jesus and serving others as Jesus did. 

Mrs Kirsty Simpson

Religous Education Co-ordinator

Congratulations to the two classes to earn the first Gold Stars for borrowing: 3 Gold and 6 Green, well done!! Quite a few other classes have come close, with only two or three students forgetting. Remember our Library days:

Tuesday – Year 3, Kinder, 5 Gold

Wednesday – Year 4, Year 1, 5 Green

Thursday – Year 6, Year 2

Premiers' Reading Challenge: Congratulations to all the students who have registered for the challenge –  all students from Years 3 - 6 are automatically registered. If you remember your login from last year you can login and begin to register your books, your logins should not have changed. Year 2 is participating as a grade, the teachers will ensure they read the required books to the students, and all books will be registered at school. Any student from K - 1 who is to take part, I just need a letter from parents please. You can begin to read your books, and keep a list either at home or at school. Logins for new students will be sent home in the next few weeks. The booklists are found at

https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

You can search our Library catalogue to see all the available books on the list – go to oliver.dow.catholic.edu.au/miev, and type ‘premier’ in the search box. You can then select the required level, either K - 2, 3 - 4, or  5- 6.

Parent Helpers: Thank you to the parents who have volunteered their time to help with covering. We will send home books for covering as soon as we have some available. Thank you.

Scholastic Book Club: The brochure is going home this week for Issue 2.  All orders will close on Monday 16 March, which gives you plenty of time to browse the catalogue to find the reading bargains! Remember all ordering is done ONLINE through LOOP – check the back of the brochure for details. The school receives reward points for all items sold, which enables us to buy more books for the Library, so we thank you for your support.

Daily Reading: Please remember how important it is to make time to read with your children for at least ten minutes a day. 

"To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend. To read it for a second time is to meet an old one." 

 Chinese saying

Mrs Susan Bryant

Teacher Librarian

Shrove Tuesday

Thank you to all the parent helpers who volunteered and gave up their time to help

make Shrove Tuesday a success.

The P & F made a total of 944 pancakes / pikelets!

  Meet Our P & F Committee

Thank you to all new members for putting their hand up to help the School and P & F for the 2020 School year.

We look forward to organising events with your help and making the School Year fantastic. 

• President: Alejandra Zelada
• Vice President: Kerry Watson
• Secretary: Heather Franshaw-Thomas
• Treasurer: Christine Bampton

 Fundraising Committee

• Co-ordinator: Lisa Peek
• Members: Katie Champion, Samantha Sheridan

 Hospitality Committee

• Co-ordinator: Camille Vasperas
• Members: Katie Champion, Samantha Sheridan

If you would like to join the Fundraising or Hospitality Committee please leave your

details at the School Office and a member of the P & F will be in contact with you.

Thank you

P&F Committee

How Kindness helps us

Acts of kindness actually help us in many ways some we can not see however can feel. By doing random acts of kindness our bodies release feel good hormones in the brain. These hormones create emotional warmth allowing us to feel happy, reduce stress and anxiety and improve our heart and overall health. Kindness is also contagious.  One act of kindness inspires others creating hope, showing care and allowing us to see the good in others. When we practice kindness we build strong school, family and community connection while also creating strong friendships. This Lenten period we are asking our students to show acts of kindness within the school, home and community.  Some ways they can do this are listed below.

• Give a compliment to someone
• Volunteer your time
• Donate old toys
• Hold the door open
• Apologise if you make a mistake
• Smile at people
• Help around the home offer to do the dishes, pack lunches.
• Play with someone new
• Write a thank you note to someone
• Be kind to yourself – set healthy boundaries
• Offer to help in the classroom

Mrs Rita Maher

School Counsellor

Perspective – How big is my problem,

Often we go to battle over little things; in doing so we teach our children that every little thing matters and that there is no room for compromise or development. Children grow by pushing back at times; they will test boundaries as they begin to feel safer in exploring the world they live in. Children develop vital negotiation skills and learn the art of give and take by their interactions with others. However if our children believe every small thing is a big thing they can often have emotional reactions that are out of proportion to the problem they are facing. The playground is the area that children often need to gain perspective on the size of their problems. Children can often be caught up in the moment and become heavily invested in arguments that won't matter in 5 years time or even in 5 hours. Teaching your child how to recognise the perspective of what is happening, helps them set health boundaries, learning when to ignore something, walk away, stand strong, or ask for help.  Below is a table that shows emotional responses to the size of a problem.  Teaching your child this will help them develop a sound understanding of emotional response and healthy communication in relation to problems they may face.

Mrs Rita Maher

School Counsellor

CatholicCARE Wollongong

25-27 Auburn St (PO Box 1174) Wollongong 2500

Phone:  | Fax:

ritam@catholiccare.dow.org.au

www.catholiccare.dow.org.au

On Friday 28 February, the students and staff of Mary Immaculate headed out into our playground to participate in “Clean Up Schools Day 2020”. This initiative is an expansion of the long standing “Clean Up Australia Day” which began 30 years ago. Ian Kiernan who was an avid sailor, was shocked and disgusted by the pollution and rubbish that he continually encountered in the oceans of the world, so he started Clean Up Australia Day. Millions of people have participated in this great initiative over the years and Mary Immaculate was proud to join the tradition again this year. 

Looking around our playground before the clean up started, it didn’t look too bad! Yes, there were some food wrappers flying around but overall it didn’t look like there was much rubbish on the playground. That was until we got started! Each grade had 2 bags to put their rubbish in – one for general waste and one for recyclable rubbish. Unfortunately, by the end of the clean-up, most grades had filled their bags! 

This sparked a conversation in our classrooms about the importance of putting our rubbish in the right bin. We are hoping that this important initiative and conversation will continue to be at the forefront of staff and students minds at Mary Immaculate so that we can follow Pope Francis’s important work and guidelines in Laudato Si, to take care of our common home. In particular, to reduce our rubbish production. 

Thank you to all who participated in Clean Up Schools Day and Clean Up Australia Day 2020.

Mrs Kylie Alford

Wollongong Environment Network Contact

This is an Annual Event to remember the Dharawal people killed in the Massacre of 1816

DATE:  19 APRIL 2020

TIME:  11:00 A.M. TO 3:30 P.M.

PLACE:  CATARACT DAM PICNIC AREA, APPIN

Sausage Sizzle lunch will be provided

Hosted by:  Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group

Contacts: 

• Uncle Ivan Wellington M: 0447 581 306
• Sr Kerry M: 9605 1838
• Ann Madsen M:0408 026 997
• Peter Jones M: 0418 297 056

* REMEMBERING   * HEALING   * RECONCILIATION